Apple faces $118,000 fine in China for e-book copyright infringement

A Chinese writers' union brought the case on behalf of three authors.

Apple has been fined 730,000 yuan (about $118,000) in China for copyright infringement. News of the fine came from China Daily News (hat tip to ZDNet), which reported the No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing ruled against Apple after it determined the works of three authors were sold through the iBookstore without their permission.

This is the second set of cases brought by the Writers' Rights Protection Union against Apple. According to Judge Feng Gang, Apple has a duty to check whether the books by third parties have all the necessary permissions in order to be sold on the iBookstore, in accordance with local laws. It appears as if the books were in fact uploaded by someone else who didn't have permission to publish them, and Apple is the one paying the price.

"The writers involved this time include Mai Jia, whose books are often on best-seller lists across the country," the judge said, according to China Daily. "In this way, Apple has the capability to know the uploaded books on its online store violated the writer's copyright."

But former president of Yahoo China, Xie Wen, was quoted as saying he's skeptical of such an expectation and that companies like Apple aren't likely to change their uploading policies, so infringements like this will inevitably continue.

A lawyer for the three writers in question, Wang Guohua, said the fine was higher than usual, leaving him and his clients pleased with the results. Apple did not comment publicly on the decision.